New technology illuminating ancient evidence: re-evaluating Meretneith’s serekhs and political position
New technology illuminating ancient evidence: re-evaluating Meretneith’s serekhs and political position

Summary/Abstract: William Matthew Flinders Petrie believed he had discovered a new king – Merneit – when he excavated tomb Y at Abydos, even though he noted that the name on the royal stela did not have a customary serekh. The discovery of other epigraphical material of this new king’s name with a feminine ending resulted in Meretneith’s identification as a queen consort. Within half a century, Walter B. Emery found new evidence of Meretneith in Saqqara tomb S3503. Among other epigraphical evidence, there were seal impressions with the tracings of an additional ruler beside the serekh of Djer. There was disagreement among Egyptologists regarding Emery’s conclusion that this serekh named Meretneith. Three decades later, further evidence of Meretneith with her king’s mother title terminated two versions of a necropolis seal impression recovered from Den’s tomb. These disparate evidence types of rulership have received various interpretations of Meretneith’s political position. Was she a co¬ regent with Djer, a female ruler, or a regent for the minor Den? Or was she all three?

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